Independence Day

In the past I have had occasion to list, in no particular order, what I loved about England. On this Fourth of July allow me a list of what I love about the USA. Here goes.

Hot Dogs and Sauerkraut, Elvis Presley, It's a Wonderful Life, Drive In Restaurants, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Columbo, Amish people, Manhattan, Hamburgers, Flannery O'Connor, T-Shirts, Clear Creek Monastery, equality, Cole Porter, the saxophone, Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream, Katherine Hepburn, Makers Mark, Honda 750 Shadow Spirit, football, Shawshank Redemption, cranberry juice, generosity, Johnny Depp, shoo fly pie, North Carolina mountains, milkshakes, marching bands, T.S.Eliot, religiosity, Amusement Parks, Fiddler on the Roof, Aaron Copeland, Optimism, Indiana Jones, beauty pageants, Washington DC, Orthodontics, Frank Sinatra, Thomas Merton, Rib Eye Steaks, Charleston, Bar BQ, Tina Turner, ceiling fans, Myrtle Beach, Thanksgiving, gospel quartets, the community pool, oreos, baseball, clean toilets, Disneyland, Ray Ban sunglasses, B. B. King, Ronald Reagan, turtle track ice cream, Tennessee Williams, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Casablanca, Minnesota, pickles, Andrew Wyeth, pretzels, the Blues Brothers, Dorothy Day, patriotism, air conditioning, summer camp, Patsy Cline, speed boats, pecan pie, naivety, James Taylor, Manhattans, peanut butter, Catcher in the Rye, pizza, root beer, the pro life movement, friendliness, Dr. Pepper, conspiracy theories, peaches, front porches, EWTN, the Grand Canyon, corn on the cob, Renee Zellwegger, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, hash browns, the open road, Empire State Building, enthusiasm, gangster movies, Buster Keaton, fresh shrimp, Knights of Columbus, Guys and Dolls, Gershwin, freedom, the Shenandoah Valley, taking risks, Ella Fitzgerald, fried chicken, Robert Frost, radio preachers, cheerfulness, interstate rest stops, Redwood forests, Robert Duvall, cook outs, Niagara Falls,